Dick Cheney feared terrorists could hack his pacemaker

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has a new book out, but it’s not about politics or the Iraq war – it’s about heart disease.

Cheney suffered his first attack at the age of 37, something many geeks can relate to. He had four more heart attacks and he eventually got a pacemaker and digital defibrillator installed a few years ago.

Interestingly, when the time came to replace the defibrillator in 2007, Cheney ordered the doctors to disable wireless connectivity for fear that terrorists could hijack the device and cause him to suffer yet another heart attack.

In 2010 Cheney underwent surgery to have a battery operated pump installed, while he was waiting for a proper heart transplant. He received the transplant last year, after waiting for a donor heart for 20 months.

He told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta that he’s feeling fantastic now and that he practically got a new lease on life.